How a dying director captured the fading mind in the film Still Alice
In short: When directors Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland adapted Lisa Genova’s novel Still Alice, they were living their own tragedy. Glatzer had just been diagnosed with ALS, a neurodegenerative disease. Their personal experience with caregiving and physical decline infused the film with a raw, unsettling intimacy that defined Julianne Moore’s award-winning performance.
The 2014 film Still Alice, based on Lisa Genova’s 2007 novel, follows a linguistics professor, Alice Howland, as she navigates an early-onset Alzheimer’s diagnosis. The project began in 2011 when producers Lex Lutzus and James Brown approached Glatzer and Westmoreland. The directors were initially hesitant, fearing that exploring neurodegeneration while Glatzer battled ALS would be too close to the bone. They eventually accepted, drawing directly from their own lives; Westmoreland served as Glatzer’s primary caregiver, and the physical limitations Glatzer faced—eventually communicating only by typing on an iPad with one finger—informed the film’s portrayal of loss and dependency.
Julianne Moore’s preparation for the role was extensive. She met with Alzheimer’s patients, consulted with Dr. Mary Sano at Mount Sinai Hospital, and underwent cognitive testing to authentically capture the progression of the disease. Her performance was widely lauded, earning her an Academy Award for Best Actress, which she dedicated to Glatzer, who passed away in March 2015. Despite the critical acclaim, the film’s path was turbulent. It was one of several titles leaked during the 2014 Sony Pictures hack, resulting in over 100,000 unauthorized downloads before its wide theatrical release.
Critics remained divided on the film’s execution. While many praised the restrained, dignified approach and Moore’s emotional transparency, others found the storytelling heavy-handed or overly sentimental. Some reviewers, such as A. O. Scott and Richard Roeper, felt the film failed to fully capture the depth of the pain involved, occasionally veering into melodrama. Nevertheless, the film remains a significant exploration of identity, with the score by Ilan Eshkeri designed to mirror the structural breakdown of the disease itself. By focusing the narrative strictly through Alice’s perspective, the directors aimed to honor the experience of the patient rather than just the observers.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Still Alice
- Also: Wikidata — Still Alice · CC0
- Also: Wikidata — Still Alice · CC0
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